EQ6 - Scanning Fabrics Intro

I would like to get some preliminary information out of the way before I post the full tutorial.  The tools you will need for preparing fabric swatches for EQ6 are: a PC or laptop, a scanner, fabric and photo editing/processing software.  The first three items are obvious and it's the last item I want to talk about here.

Today, digital cameras come with photo editing software and it is quite likely this software will work for preparing fabric images since EQ6 supports .jpeg files (with EQ5 you had to save your swatch as a bitmap).  However, to fully take advantage of the many new features in EQ6 a good photo editing/processing program is a plus and you'll see why in the upcoming tutorial.

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EQ6 - Getting help

I make a point of stressing to all my EQ6 purchasers that the customer support offered by the Electric Quilt Company is second to none. In addition to contacting EQ directly with questions, you can also turn to the EQ help forums. There are seperate forums on installing and activating EQ6; on using EQ6; on designing blocks and quilts using EQ6.  You can browse through the questions and see if your particular problem is mentioned or browse just to learn tips on using the program.  Once you've registered with EQ, you can post your own questions.

I posted a question the other day in the 'Using EQ6' forum on 'Scanning Fabrics'.  I posted in the evening and Penny McMorris (founder along with her husband Dale of the Electric Quilt Company) answered my question first thing the next morning. By the way, my posting name is 'SkookumNarrows'.  Ever since I upgraded to EQ6, I have wanted to scan all the beautiful Jo Morton fabrics I sell and start designing blocks and quilts with them.  However, I was having some difficulty wrapping my mind around the process possibly due to using my Paint Shop Pro graphics program on a constant basis for picture and image design.  Penny clarified the issue for me and now I am ready to go.  I hope on the weekend to post a tutorial on the process and share my success with you all.

EQ 6 - Designing your Christmas Cards

EQ6 doesn't just have to be used for designing quilting projects.  It is after all a graphics program at heart and you can take advantage of that fact for all types of projects.  I used it once to design possible sign layouts for a 4' x 8' advertising board for the village of Egmont.  I used the custom layout feature and was surprised to discover how intuitive EQ6 is.  So, why not take advantage of the program to design this year's Christmas cards and gift tags!  The Electric Quilt Company has posted instructions on its blog and you can find those instructions on this page.  Have fun!